Criminal Justice Colleges in Alaska

Alaska's vast wilderness provides a variety of law enforcement jobs for interested applicants, and there are a number of excellent criminal justice programs in Alaska. For the many Alaskans who live hundreds of miles from a college campus, there are several online criminal justice colleges in Alaska that offer associate's, bachelor's, and master's degrees that can be earned from the convenience of home.

Training At Alaska Criminal Justice Colleges

Criminal justice schools train candidates for public service. Law enforcement jobs in Alaska require officers to deal not only with the stresses of law enforcement but the added difficulties of performing duties in remote stretches of wilderness, extreme weather conditions, and many times in isolation. Police jobs in Alaska can be hazardous, but training from one of Alaska's criminal justice colleges can help you prepare for the challenges of the job. Alaska criminal justice programs equip students to be proficient in several areas:

Community relations and patrol

Self-defense and firearm use

Laws of Alaska and legal issues

Criminal investigations

Evidence collection

Criminal justice colleges in Alaska may offer financial aid--check with individual colleges to learn more about degrees offered and financing option.

Criminal Justice Careers in Alaska

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 8,370 people working in protective services in Alaska in May, 2009. Nationally, 3,172,420 people were employed in criminal justice. The mean annual wage in Alaska for law enforcement professionals was $46,370 in 2009, which is above the national mean of $41,740 for the same professions. Hiring for law enforcement jobs in Alaska is expected to continue throughout the state as vacancies occur. Alaska criminal justice schools equip students to serve in a variety of protective services jobs. These include the following jobs in which most graduates of criminal justice schools in Alaska are employed.

Police officers and sheriff's deputies

Security officers

Prison and jail corrections officers

Evidence technicians and investigators

Parole and probation officers

According to the Alaska Law Enforcement Agency Uniform Crime Reports, the population of the Last Frontier State increased slightly to 689,473 in 2009. The occurrences of violent crime went down slightly while the number of property crimes increased proportionally. Alaska's rate for violent crime, though on the decline, was higher than the national average, but the property crime rate was lower than the national average. Most crime per capita occurs in the cities of Juneau, Fairbanks, and Anchorage.